A Plethora of Powers
by RikkoTheClown
Summary: When Cleo finds a mysterious group of stones at the bottom of the ocean, she finds herself with more magical powers than she can handle. What happens when she has the ability to read Lewis's thoughts… about her? And how does she cope with a capability to fly, as well as many other strange powers? Even worse: what happens when all of this gets her romantically attracted to Zane?
1. The Findings of the Stones

Today was such a nice day… to be meters underwater, submerged in an abundance of blue. As much as Cleo enjoyed the company of her best friends, Rikki and Emma, there was just something great about swimming alone. It was just her and the sea creatures. She could think about life, and make lots of thinking-type faces, without anyone asking her what she was thinking _about. _That's one thing she disliked the most in life. Having people constantly poking into her thoughts, wondering what they were. If mind readers existed, she would probably be living alone on a small, barren island by now.

A glimmer of light glistened, breaking Cleo out of her thoughts. It wasn't any ordinary glimmer, not a shiny fish or a ray of sunlight forcing its way through the sea. No, it was something big. Rather, it was a bunch of tiny, shiny stones in a big pile on the ocean floor. Cleo swam down to them to get a closer look.

The stones were something Cleo had never seen before. Each one was a different color… there were about 30 of them. Cleo didn't even know stones _came _in so many colors. She knew picking them up would just separate them, and it would take forever to take them _all _ashore. Cleo picked one up, and much to her surprise, they were all attached. It made Cleo think of ice cubes… how they all stick together in a giant clump. Much like ice cubes, the stones were cold, and slippery. Cleo barely made it back to the beach without losing them.

One thing that crossed Cleo's mind a few times during the trip back was how the stones would react when they were taken to dry land. What if they were only beautiful underwater? Contrary to Cleo's worries, the stones looked exactly as they did in dry air as they did underwater. Only this time, they were suddenly very warm. Not hot, but also not like ice cubes. This caused them to begin to separate.

"Oh no," Cleo said to herself as she mentally tried to speed up her drying process. She counted the stones, finding out that there were actually 25 of them. If she carried five in each hand, she could get them all to her house in just three trips. Her biggest concern was the fact that someone might see the beautiful stones and take them for themselves. Cleo hid them behind a rock, where, hopefully, no one could see them.

Unfortunately, when Cleo tried taking the first ten rocks away, she couldn't budge. Something was holding her back. Cleo shook her head, confused, and set the rocks back down with the others. She walked away, and found herself able to walk away easily. It was as if the rocks could not be separated. Cleo suddenly realized what had to be done. She ran to the Juicenet, ignoring Rikki's comment about the stressed look on her face, and went straight to the metal trays that are usually used by the waitress to carry drinks.

"Hi Emma, just taking this tray, I'll bring it back in a few minutes, bye," Cleo said quickly, sprinting out of the Juicenet without letting Emma reply. She ran straight to the stones, and much to her delight, all 25 of them were still there. She placed each one on the tray carefully, then speed-walked in the direction of her house. She had to get home, fast, before anyone saw her with the magical stones and started asking questions. Or before Lewis saw them and tried to do a handful of unnecessary tests and experiments on them. Cleo needed to figure these things out on her own.


	2. The Readings of the Minds

As soon as Cleo arrived at her house, she rushed in and closed the door behind her, leaning against it with a large sigh of relief. Much to her luck, neither her parents, nor nosy sister, were home. She could look at the stones without a single distraction. She switched off her phone for an added effect.

Cleo walked up to her room and placed the stones on her bed, admiring their beauty. Each one glistened a unique color, but they all had the same shape. It was like the world, Cleo thought. It's full of humans, and they're pretty much all the same, but at the same time, they're all different. Cleo quickly realized how dumb of a comparison that was and knelt down, putting her face close to the stones. They started to shine noticeably brighter.

Startled, Cleo stood up and away from the stones, observing the change in brightness again. Now, they shone much duller than before. Cleo put her face close to the stones again, and they became brighter. It was as if the stones had acquired some sort of attraction to Cleo. Not wanting the stones to get any duller, Cleo put on a skirt with pockets, and put them all in one. The lump looked slightly ridiculous, but she could tell her friends that she was collecting shells. Cleo then walked bouncily to the Juicenet.

"Can I see some shells? I was hoping to add some small conches to my collection."

"Uhh.. What collection?" Cleo asked Emma. She knew about her conch shell collection, she was just playing stupid to keep Emma away from finding out about her stones. Emma laughed nervously.

"Uh, Cleo," she said. "Are you suffering from memory loss? I've shown you my collection about ten times..."

"Ohh right," Cleo replied. "That collection." She sort of zoned out while staring at a couple at another table, secretly wishing she and Lewis could be like that. Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by Emma.

"Cleo... The shells?"

"Oh, right right. See, I didn't find any conch shells," Cleo told Emma, faking a frown. Cleo didn't like lying.. But then again, she wasn't really lying at all. She really didn't find any conch shells. She didn't find any shells at all.

"Oh," Emma said disappointedly, rising from the chair and getting back to work. Cleo didn't see Rikki at all. She's been so absent lately, and Cleo considered herself lucky when she got to hang out with the blonde for five minutes. The worst part was that Cleo had absolutely no clue where Rikki was, ever.

Cleo looked at the clock. Exactly noon. She thought she felt a slight buzz coming from her stone-filled pocket, but figured it was just two stones rubbing together. She didn't have time to dwell on it anyway, because Lewis suddenly walked in. Cleo smiled.

"Hi Lewis," she said as he walked up to her table and sat down.

"Hey Cleo," Lewis replied, returning the smile. _I love when she smiles. _Cleo froze. She heard Lewis's voice... But his lips weren't moving. It also sounded slightly muffled. What was going on? Was she... reading his mind?

"Cleo? Are you okay? You look like a ghost in the headlights," Lewis said. _Wait, oh! No, it's DEER in the headlights. Oh, I hope she didn't notice... _His facial expressions matched his thoughts perfectly.

"Uh, Lewis," Cleo said. "Can you excuse me for just a sec?"

"Of course." Lewis smiled. _I wonder where she's going. Should I get a juice? Or __wait for her to get back?_ Lewis turned around. _Why is she standing there__looking at me? Is there something on my face? In my teeth?_

Cleo pivoted and walked in the other direction, towards Emma.

"Emma," Cleo said with clenched teeth. This situation was stressing her out... She seemed to be reading Lewis's thoughts! But how was that possible?

_ Uh oh, what did I do wrong..._

"Nothing!" Cleo told Emma, then immediately regretted it. Emma turned as white as a ghost, and looked at Cleo with wide eyes.

"Did you just..." Emma didn't finish her sentence before Cleo nodded, biting her lip and frowning. Emma put her hand over her mouth and gasped. _She just read my mind... How long has this been happening? Does she know about __her white dress?_ Cleo gasped in anger. _Oh, shoot. I guess she didn't_.

"What about my white dress?" Cleo asked, once again with clenched teeth.

"Coming!" Emma called to no one, scurrying back through the doors to the freezer. Cleo shook her head furiously and stomped back to Lewis.

_ Uh oh, she's angry_.

"Cleo," Lewis said carefully. "What's wrong?" _She's going to say "nothing."_

"Just angry at someone, no big deal," Cleo informed him proudly, smirking at her decision to prove him wrong. She decided that this mind reading thing could actually be fun.


	3. The Stopping of the Time

When Cleo arrived home, she found her family watching TV. They didn't even turn around to greet her. After pondering for a bit on who would be the first victim of mind-reading, she chose Kim. Maybe she could invade HER privacy for a change.

_Ugh, this show is so stupid. Who cares about squid? I want to watch a show about girl cops, fighting crime and then getting their nails done. I could so be in a show like that._

Cleo had to cover her mouth to mask her laughter. She moved her focus to her father next.

_I wonder why Cleo never says hello to me anymore. Am I being a good father? I must not be…_

Cleo looked down at the floor with guilt. She made a mental note to start saying hello to him more often. Not at that moment, however, because he might get suspicious. Cleo didn't even bother reading her mother's thoughts. She walked out of her house, ready to search for new people and their thoughts that she could obtain so easily. It felt different for Cleo, having this much power over people. However, it was a nice change.

* * *

"Cleo, if you're here to steal the Zodiac again, you can just-"

"I'm not," Cleo told him nervously. "I just need t-to ask you something..."

_Oh no, she must've found out about me and Rikki..._

Cleo squinted her eyes in confusion. Him and Rikki? What was going on between him and Rikki?

"Have you seen Rikki?" Cleo asked strategically. She wasn't going to straight up ask him about him and Rikki. She had to ease him into telling her._ She must know. Why else would she ask ME where Rikki is?_

"Uh, I don't know," Zane lied. _Yeah, that's right, don't reveal anything. She'll walk away eventually. _

"Zane…"

"All right, all right," he said. "I think I saw her going towards the beach, but I'm not 100%-"

"Thanks Zane!" Cleo called as she ran away. However, she wasn't running to find Rikki. She was going to find Ms Chatham.

* * *

"Ms Chatham!" Cleo called as she saw the old woman. She sprinted up to her. "Ms Chatham."

"Hello, Cleo," said the woman.

"I have a question," Cleo told her. "Do you know anything about… colorful stones?" Ms Chatham looked at her with confusion. It was obvious that the answer would be no.

"Not really, no. But I must be going now," Ms Chatham said in her mysterious tone. Cleo always liked that about her. In less than three seconds, she was gone, and so was the sun. Cleo figured it would be best to just go home, and to try to learn more about her new power in the morning. Mind reading was exhausting.

* * *

When Cleo awoke the next morning, it felt like she had slept for a week. She felt great. A few moments later, she remembered that she had an awesome new power she had to practice on. And who better to practice on, than her own little sister? However, when Cleo descended down the staircase and reached the kitchen, she did not hear any thoughts. She stared at Kim, for twenty seconds, at least. The only thing she got was a funny look and a bratty "what are you looking at?"

Why wasn't her power working? Cleo slept with her skirt on, and didn't take the stones out of her pocket. She even checked them to make sure they were still the same as they were when she found them, and nothing changed. So why did they suddenly stop functioning?

"It's about time you woke up," her father said from the couch. Cleo looked at the clock. 11:58 am. No wonder she felt like she got too much sleep; she slept for 18 hours! After pouring herself a tall glass of orange juice and gulping it down as if she hadn't drank a thing in years, she tried reading someone's mind again. This time, she chose her father. Nothing. All of the sudden, she felt the vibrating in her pocket again.

Before Cleo could wonder why she kept feeling these mysterious vibrations, Kim tried to pour honey in her orange juice.

"Stop!" Cleo commanded, and her stomach did a flip when she saw what happened next. Her sister froze. Her father froze. Even the ceiling fan froze. Nothing was moving, and yet Cleo could. She tried moving Kim's arm, but it wouldn't budge. Same with the cup of orange juice, and the refrigerator door. What had she done?

"Uhh…" Cleo said. "Go?" Right as she said it, everything started moving again. Some honey dripped into her orange juice, but she didn't care. She ran straight out the front door and towards the Juicenet. This was just too weird for Cleo to handle.

* * *

As soon as Cleo arrived at the Juicenet, the first person she saw was Zane. He was also the only person there that Cleo actually knew; Rikki, Emma, and Lewis were nowhere in sight.

"Zane," Cleo said, walking up to him. He tilted his head and smirked.

"You again?"

"Zane, I need you to do me a favor," Cleo said. She grabbed an abandoned cup of juice on the counter. "I need you to pour this on the floor." Zane gave her a funny look.

"What?" He half-said, half-laughed. He probably thought this was the most ridiculous task in the world. Cleo huffed in frustration.

"Just do it Zane, trust me." Zane shook his head and began to tilt the cup towards the floor. As it started to pour, Cleo said "stop!" Everything froze again. Cleo touched the falling juice. It wasn't frozen, but it was solid. It didn't break when she hit it, or kicked it. When she tried running out of the Juicenet, she found that she couldn't, because the beaded doorways were stuck. It was the most bizarre thing Cleo had ever seen; besides the first time she saw her mermaid tail. She could still smell the utter shock that swarmed her head when that happened.

"Go," Cleo shouted, and everything was back to normal. She ran out of the Juicenet, bumping into a few people on the way, and not even bothering to apologize. She was too focused.

A few minutes later, Cleo found herself at the beach. When she got as close to the water as she could without it touching her, she said "stop." The ocean stopped moving. It was as if someone hit the pause button during a movie, except this was no movie. This was something Cleo was living in, for real. She touched the water, and it was solid. She walked on the water, and it didn't move, but Cleo did slip a little. Cleo could walk across the whole ocean if she wanted to. However, she had no desire too, and would probably tire very quickly.

"Go." Cleo fell straight into the ocean, and soon after turned into a mermaid. She swam slowly underwater.

"Stop." The water surrounding her froze, trapping Cleo amongst it. This made her quite claustrophobic, and she said "go" immediately. Cleo decided that she liked the mind-reading power a bit better than the time-stopping power.


	4. The Transporting of the Self

For the second day in a row, Cleo had slept for far more hours than she was used to. She still had the stones near her at all times. However, she did change out of her skirt. It was strange; when she had put the stones down onto her bed, they flew back and clung to her arm. She tried to throw one to see what it would do, and it came back at her like a boomerang, pelting her in the chest. These were quite clingy stones.

Cleo noticed that she hadn't had too much time to think lately. She slept for the most of the day, and during the hours that she was awake, she had some weird superpower to deal with. She didn't have the free time to really comprehend what was going on. The stones had something to do with the powers, she knew that much. But what she couldn't figure out was _why_.

The worst part about all of this was that Cleo couldn't confide in anyone about it. Lewis would go all freak-scientist on the whole situation, Rikki would probably get jealous, and Emma would try and force her to control it. Plus, Cleo wanted to do this on her own; to know that she could. She was sick of always asking for help with things. Maybe these were independent-female thoughts, but they were true. Cleo needed to stop being so dependent.

As soon as a clock in her room beeped, signaling that it was 12pm, the vibration happened again. Cleo tried to reach into her stone-filled pocket, but there was some sort of force blocking her hand out. She stomped her foot in frustration. Suddenly, Cleo found herself in a different place than her room. It completely baffled her, how in a flash, she was somewhere else. She didn't even know where. She could be in America or something.

"I'm just going to the store," a familiar voice of a man called from somewhere. Cleo ducked down behind a leather chair. "Be back in a bit." Cleo heard the front door shut, and finally grasped the whole situation. Why did the stones bring her to the Bennetts' house?

Cleo's eyes shot open, revealing a person standing over her.

"Cleo," Zane said angrily. "What in the world are you doing here?"

Cleo looked around, searching for an answer. Honestly, she didn't even know herself, so what would she tell Zane? That some magical stones transported her here? She was almost certain she knew which "magic stones" he would've thought she was talking about.

"I...uh," Cleo said. "I'm your new babysitter." Zane laughed.

"Cute, Cleo, now seriously, why were you sleeping behind my chair?" Cleo squinted with confusion. She was sleeping? It didn't even seem like she closed her eyes.

"I don't even know, Zane," Cleo told him truthfully. "Maybe I sleepwalked." Zane

chuckled, shaking his head. He was still smiling and shaking his head when he walked into his kitchen and open his refrigerator.

"Want anything to eat?" Zane asked, as if he was bring forced to ask.

"No thanks, I think I'll be heading home now." Cleo got up, her joints cracking in the process. She checked to make sure her stones were still in her pocket, and when she found that they were, she walked grudgingly out the door. Cleo observed the street ahead of her and scratched her head. She had no idea how to get home from here. All of the sudden, she closed her eyes tight, and thought of her house. She stomped her foot, and, unfortunately, found herself right back in the Bennetts' house.

Cleo was tremendously lucky that Zane didn't see her zap back into his house. To say that he would've been freaked out would be an understatement. He would've never let it go, just like how he wouldn't let go of the whole mermaid thing. That's why Cleo was more that relieved when he was still in the kitchen, sifting though the fridge.

"Cleo?" Zane said with confusion when he saw her standing there. "I thought I heard you leave..." Cleo widened her eyes.

"You did?" she replied nervously. "You must be hearing things, I haven't moved."

"But I-"

"Okay I'm leaving now," Cleo cut him off, heading for the door again. She realized she'd have to just find her way home on foot.

During her walk, Cleo racked her brain, trying to find an answer. She realized that each time the stones gave her a new power, they brought her to Zane. But why Zane? He was selfish and rotten, and supposedly had something going on with Rikki. Cleo had no feelings for him whatsoever, and yet it was like the stones were trying to make her like him. All Cleo wanted to do at this point was to figure out more about them, but she knew that no one would be able to help her. It was sickening, really, how much a few dumb stones were changing her life.


	5. The Invisibility of the Body

At precisely 12pm the next day, Cleo's pocket vibrated again. She knew what was coming. Rather, she knew that _something_ was coming, she just didn't exactly know what. She figured it would be best to go to the Juicenet and wait until something bizarre happened, and to do her best to stop it. However, she soon discovered that it couldn't be stopped when she looked in the mirror and didn't see herself staring back at her. She looked at her hands, and saw nothing. It felt like something from a science fiction movie.

Cleo stepped out of her room and walked slowly down the stairs. Unfortunately, no one was home, so she couldn't exactly test her new power. She suddenly wondered if her clothes were still visible and floating. When she saw that they were invisible as well, she walked out the door and made her way to the Juicenet.

It was a weird feeling, not being looked at at all. As if she was being shunned by everyone. Cleo didn't have time to let the whole situation sink in before she saw two people in a far, hidden corner of the Juicenet. Zane and Rikki. Cleo walked over to them to get a closer listen.

"Come on, Rikki," Zane begged. "You know you can tell me anything!"

"I can't Zane, not this. Not yet." Cleo was proud of Rikki for not giving in and telling Zane the mermaid secret.

"But Rikki," Zane paused, taking her hands. "It seems like it's coming between us." All of the sudden, Cleo had the strongest urge to grab a cup of juice. It wasn't even her idea; she had no control over it. Her hands made her take a cup and splash it at Rikki. Rikki, seeing the floating cup, made the most horrified face Cleo had ever seen, and dashed outside of the Juicenet.

"What did you do that for?" Zane yelled. Cleo cocked her head in confusion. "Don't play dumb Cleo, you're holding the cup in your hand!" Cleo looked down at her very visible hand. Was she visible the whole time?

"Oh no," Cleo said in horror, and ran out the same place that Rikki had just a minute ago. After searching for the blonde for a few minutes, she finally found her behind a cement wall near the beach.

"So you can raise cups now, too?" Rikki asked, not even looking at Cleo.

"Huh?"

"Come on," Rikki said, with fury in her voice. "I know that that cup didn't raise itself on its own. And I'm pretty sure no one else there has powers like you do."

"It wasn't me, Rikki," Cleo told her. "Please believe me."

"I can't."

After a moment of awkward silence, Zane jogged up to the girls. Luckily, Rikki was dried off and back to human form.

"What happened back there?!" Zane demanded. He turned his attention on Rikki. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, thanks," she muttered. She brushed her legs off and stood up, giving Cleo an irritated look. Cleo sighed. The last thing she wanted to do was get on Rikki's bad side, but the stones had another idea. And this was proven to be true, when Cleo's feet caused her to walk towards Zane against her will. It was as if she was a robot, and someone else was controlling her motions with a remote control. And this particular remote must've had a "Kiss Zane" button, because that's exactly what she did.

Cleo assumed that right after she and Zane kissed she had turned invisible again, because after he opened his eyes, he looked all around for her. She turned around to Rikki, who was already angrily storming off in the other direction. Chasing after her would be pointless, since she wouldn't being able to see Cleo anyway. The stones were slowly ruining Cleo's life.


	6. The XRay Vision of the Eyes

The next day, Cleo woke up with dread. As cool as her new powers were, they were seriously changing her life for the worse. She barely saw her friends or family anymore. She was talking to Zane more than she was talking to Lewis. All Cleo wanted was to live a normal life again, but it appeared that there would be 21 more days of this nonsense. She wondered how so many superpowers even exist, and when they would start getting _really _bad. What if she became a real-life supervillain, and unintentionally starting using her powers for horrible things?

Suddenly Cleo wondered what would happen if she put her hand in her pocket right before it was time for it to vibrate. She was a little fearsome, but she attempted it anyway. However, her hand was shot out forcefully by a strange force just prior to the vibration. It didn't hurt, it actually just felt like a strong gust of wind forced her hand out. Still, Cleo was disappointed that the stones wouldn't even let her find out more about them. It reminded her of a movie she once watched, where a man was obsessed with a woman, yet he wouldn't let her know _anything _about him. It ended by him revealing that he was actually a spy, hired by the woman's own father, but it was sort of the same idea.

Nonetheless, Cleo sat in anticipation of her next superpower.

* * *

Her power for that day, Cleo soon discovered, was x-ray vision. However, she could only see through things that she _chose _to see through. It's not like she automatically saw through everything, that would probably result in her seeing absolutely nothing. She just had to focus on something, and in a few seconds she'd be able to see whatever was directly behind it. Cleo didn't mind this one too much.

* * *

"Cleo!" Cleo heard someone call to her. One person she absolutely did not want to talk to at the moment, especially after the events of the previous day. As she began to quicken her pace, she heard running footsteps from behind.

"Go away, Zane," Cleo muttered, continuing to walk quickly away from him. She heard his footsteps suddenly come to a halt.

"W-what?"

"I said go away, Zane," Cleo repeated as she turned around, facing him. "Leave me alone. I just… I just want to be alone." It was difficult to do this to Zane while he had such a heartbroken-type expression on his face, even if he was obnoxious and rude. He just seemed so… shattered… by Cleo's rejecting tone. She felt a pang of guilt wash over her as he looked at the ground and slumped away. She wanted to go after him, to apologize, but in all honestly, she had no idea what she'd say. "Hey, Zane, even though I kissed you yesterday, I hate you, but I feel guilty for that now, but I still hate you"… Cleo didn't think that would work out too well. In fact, it would probably confuse the heck out of the poor guy.

After Zane was about a block away from her, Cleo decided that she would follow him.

* * *

"Yeah, hi dad," Cleo heard Zane say, though slightly muffled. After Zane had entered his house, Cleo decided that she would put her powers to good use. She watched Zane trudge around the house, slamming doors and cabinets and throwing things down in exaggerated huffs. Much to Cleo's surprise, his father hadn't even asked him why he was acting that way. She realized that maybe having a dad that cared too much wasn't such a bad thing after all.

What Cleo couldn't understand was why he was acting like this. Was it what she had said to him? Was he really this outraged because she had told him to leave her alone? A better question was, did he have feelings for her?

"I'm gonna go take a shower," Zane mumbled, and stomped up the staircase. Cleo knew that she should probably leave by that point, so she did. Since she really didn't have anyone to hang out with, she decided to just go home and sleep, despite the fact that it was only 2 in the afternoon. The x-ray power wasn't too great, and she just wanted to find out what her next power was going to be.


	7. The Seeing of the Future

After sleeping exactly 22 hours, Cleo expected to feel a little more well-rested. Howbeit, she felt like she had slept for a total of ten minutes. Why were the powers draining all of her energy?

Cleo sat on the edge of her bed, awaiting noon, as she did every day lately. She decided that she was going to try to control the powers, even if it took every ounce of her strength. She once learned from Lewis that the mind is the most powerful thing in the world. However, she was certain that the person who discovered that had no idea that the stones existed. Nonetheless, she was going to gain control over the powers. Cleo refused to let them take over her life.

Her pocket vibrated at precisely noon. It was go time. She strutted confidently down the hall, ready to take on every obstacle that was thrown at her today. Unfortunately, all the confidence in the world could not prepare her for what happened next.

* * *

It lasted twenty seconds. The vision. Cleo had had a vision.

It started out with a tunnel of colors and shapes. Cleo had thought she was passing out or something. But then, suddenly, she saw a video playing in her mind. She was looking down at a crowd of about a million or so people, who all looked the same. It looked like an army of some sort, or a dystopian society. They all looked up to Cleo as if she was some kind of leader. The scene then showed a group of people that did not look like the others, carrying a plethora of weapons, coming towards her. That's all she saw before the image faded out into the colors and shapes again, and eventually back into reality.

What did this mean? Cleo immediately started trembling. It was slightly more life-like than a dream, but far too unlikely to be a vision of the future. But she couldn't help but wonder if it was… If she was right about the stones turning her into a monster. She wondered if she was even going to be alive after these next 20 days.

Cleo took a few steps forward, then was instantly bombarded with the colors and shapes again. Great, she thought. Another vision.

This vision started off with a view of the ocean. It seemed much more normal than the previous vision. The view then turned, revealing a person. Zane. He turned to the view and smiled, brushing her hair out of her face. The scene was over, and it left Cleo more confused than ever. These visions must be wrong. Why would Zane be treating her like that? And why would she let him? Cleo concluded that she was wrong about the power; it must be all made up. She was completely certain that her future would _never _look like that, ever. Maybe she was actually seeing through the eyes of Rikki. She seemed like a take-over-the-world kind of girl.

* * *

Cleo had twenty more visions before she actually was able to step out of her house. 15 of them were Zane looking at her, in 15 different locations. One was inside the moon pool. The remaining five were of crowds of people in slave-like conditions. Those twenty visions were much shorter than the first two, only lasting about two seconds. Still, they gave Cleo a very unsettling feeling in her stomach. She had seen enough movies; these were definitely visions. It overwhelmed her so much that she actually broke down and cried. All of the sudden, she heard a knock on her door.

"Lewis?" Cleo said when she opened the door. She couldn't believe her eyes; she hadn't seen the blonde in about a week. She actually expected it to be Zane, after everything that was going on. To see Lewis standing there was a huge shower of relief.

"Cleo," Lewis said. "You've been crying… are you okay?" Cleo realized that she must've looked like a mess and quickly wiped the tears from under her eyes, putting on a genuine smile.

"It's so good to see you Lewis," Cleo gushed, giving him a tight hug. Lewis returned the hug hesitantly.

"Uhh, Cleo," Lewis frowned, breaking the hug. "Where have you been lately? Have you been sick?"

"No, no," Cleo replied a little too quickly. "I mean, well not _really._"

"Zane's been asking where you are," Lewis said sternly. An uncomfortable silence followed. "Of all people. Zane. What's going on?"

"Well, I…" Cleo stopped. She had no idea what to say. She decided it was best to just come clean. "Lewis, you might not believe this, but I found some magical stones and now I have a new power every day starting at exactly noon and they've also been bringing me closer to Zane and I've also read your mind and saw the future and I think I'm going to become a horrible dictator and I might be killed," Cleo said in one breath. She wondered if Lewis even understood what she said. By the looks of things, he probably thought she was speaking another language. Finally, he straightened out his face.

"So what you're telling me is… you've read my mind. You have weird supernatural powers… and you didn't even tell me."

"Lewis, I-"

"Thanks a lot Cleo," Lewis interrupted angrily. "Because it's not like I could've helped you out with this or anything." Tears welled up in Cleo's eyes.

"I couldn't have told-"

"Don't give me that, Cleo," Lewis interrupted again. He turned around, faced the door, and stopped. "I hope you're reading my mind right now, because it's just too hard to say out loud."

"But I-" Lewis slammed the door before Cleo could finish. She wished she could have known what Lewis was thinking. At the same time, she was glad she wasn't able to. It probably would've broken her heart. Cleo leaned her back against the wall, sliding down until she was on the floor, and stayed there until she was tired enough to slump up the staircase and into her bed.


	8. The Conversations of the Animals

After the horrible few days that Cleo had had to endure, she finally got a power she enjoyed. Talking to animals. She realized she had the power when she could hear her fish saying things in small voices. "Feed me!" "Food" and "Eat" were words she heard the most. This was about a minute after she had fed them their lunch. Unfortunately, fish aren't exactly the smartest creatures, so when Cleo tried to tell them that she had fed them already, they didn't listen. They still heard her, however, and she could tell by how they reacted.

Cleo tried to think of someone who had a dog. She didn't even know where Rikki _lived, _let alone whether or not she had a pet. Lewis had a hamster, but he was out of the question. Cleo decided that she would go down to the local pet store, and hoped nothing too crazy happened. She did not realize the trouble she was about to cause.

* * *

The pet store was louder than Cleo could have imagined. The dogs, the cats, the birds, the rabbits; she heard them all. All their conversations, their complaints, and more. It was worse than being in the middle of a fight between Emma and Rikki. She went back to the area where people can interact with dogs. She decided she would like to have a little fun, to get her mind off the whole Lewis thing.

"Hi," Cleo said shyly to the employee in the back. "I was wondering if I could see a dog?"

"Of course," the woman smiled. "Which one would you like?"

"Uhhh…" Cleo scanned the displays for a dog. A shiny black lab caught her eye. "That one," she said as she pointed to it. Her eagerness increased greatly.

As soon as the woman gave Cleo the dog, she asked if she wanted to be alone with it.

"Yes, actually," Cleo told her. The woman smiled, and left the back area.

"Hello, dog," Cleo said to the animal. It looked up at her curiously.

"My name is Chloe, actually," it replied. Cleo's face lit up.

"No way, my name is Cleo!"

"Shhh," the dog looked around. "People are staring."

"Right, right," Cleo said. "So… what's it like being a dog?"

"Decent."

"Oh," Cleo sighed. "You don't like me very much, do you?"

"Like you? I barely know you," Chloe replied. "I just don't like being _here_. It's hot, and smelly, and they feed us the nastiest stuff. People always tap on the glass and make kissy faces and dumb stuff like that. My biggest dream is to be in a big open field, running freely." Cleo looked at the dog blankly. "I saw it in a movie once."

"I thought dogs couldn't see the television," Cleo said.

"There's a lot of things about dogs that people assume," Chloe explained. "Like, that we're all dumb. Do I seem dumb? I mean, I know big words, like telephone." Cleo laughed and shook her head. "They also think we see in black and white. I can clearly see that your shirt is purple."

"Are all dogs like you?" Cleo asked. "Like, smart, like this?" Chloe snickered.

"Heck no! Some dogs are as dumb as doorknobs. Hey, do you think you can sneak me outta here?"

"Uhh…" Cleo eyed the dog's collar. It had some mechanism that would set off the alarms for sure. It wasn't possible.

"The alarms broke yesterday," Chloe informed Cleo, sensing her hesitancy. "Just stick me in your bag and skedaddle."

"O-ok," Cleo stuttered, sticking the dog in her bag and walking casually out the door. It was much easier than she imagined.

"Thanks Clover," Chloe said. Cleo rolled her eyes.

"It's Cleo," she told the dog. "Hey… I have an idea, I think."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, come with me."

* * *

"You want me to take you to Mako," Zane said nervously. "In my Zodiac. With your new dog."

"Yep!" Cleo exclaimed cheerfully.

"Uh, okay, I guess," Zane said, giving her a funny look. He turned around and starting walking towards his Zodiac. "Whatever floats your boat…"

Cleo made sure she put on water-proof materials under her clothes before she talked to Zane. She knew that talking to him wasn't the best idea, but she really wanted to try something out. She couldn't swim; not with Chloe, so she had to go by boat. It was about dusk, and the full moon was just an hour away from rising. Cleo felt a tingling sensation all over her body.

"Now, you're sure about this?" Zane asked as they were starting to ride off to Mako.

"Couldn't be more sure!" Cleo responded. They didn't utter a word to each other the rest of the way to the island.

;;;;;

"Thanks Zane, you can go!" Cleo told him. He looked at her quizzically.

"But won't you need a ride back?"

"Nope, staying the night, thanks anyway!" Cleo looked fearfully at the quickly darkening sky. "Gotta go!" She ran off inland, eventually hearing Zane's Zodiac riding away. Cleo sprinted all the way to the moon pool.

"What are you doing with me," Chloe asked for the 15th time. Cleo hasn't answered her while she was with Zane for obvious reasons.

"Just trust me, okay?" Cleo responded. She was shivering from the excitement.

* * *

As soon as the moon was overhead, Cleo held Chloe in her hands and dipped her in the moon pool, careful to not get herself wet. The dog objected at first, but Cleo got her to calm down. When the moon was out of sight, Cleo removed Chloe from the water.

"Um, what the heck was that for?" Chloe asked angrily.

"Nothing," Cleo replied, yawning. "Let's just get some sleep." Cleo curled up in a ball near the moon pool and fell asleep. Chloe did the same.


End file.
